How much comedy do you like in your horror games? When does it ruin the mood? Do you enjoy decidedly tongue-in-cheek twist like Horror Rules by Crucifiction Games?

Mulsiphix

01-30-2008, 09:58 PM

I think it depends on the setting. Comedy can be an asset in a setting like Scream where the setting brings to light some of the more idiotic tendencies the horror genre is well known for. In a very serious setting like Darkness I don't comedy would be very appropriate. I don't think that comedy necessarily lessens the tension in high suspense situations. If anything it can serve as a nice distraction right before you get the bajeezus scared out of you. As far as Hollywood is concerned though, comedy in horror settings usually is nothing but bad puns and cheap storylines. In a good novel, like one from Clive Barker - Steven King - Dean Koontz, I think comedy can be used quite successfully without distracting from the atmosphere at all.

Drohem

01-30-2008, 11:46 PM

It is a real fine line to mix comedy and horror/suspense: add just a pinch too much and it becomes Cheese Whiz.

Pvt. Hudson from Aliens is probably the best example that immediately comes to mind as a good example.

An American Werewolf in Paris was another good mix of horror and comedy.

Shaun of the Dead was another one.

Oh, how could I forget the movie that made me laugh the hardest I have ever in my life:

Evil Dead II

Mulsiphix

01-31-2008, 12:59 AM

The relationship between Vasquez and Drake in Aliens is another great example of comedy done right in suspenseful situations. I find any zombie setting to be perfect for comedy. Zombies are always a constant for fear and suspense so the comedy doesn't really take away from it. Another great example of comedy and horror done right is Eight Legged Freaks :D

fmitchell

01-31-2008, 02:30 AM

I'm a fan of having horror and comedy in the same story, but keeping the two separate. Horror is still horrifying, but characters have moments of comedy (sometimes dark comedy) amidst the horror.

Aliens is one example, and if you ignore the TV-budget effects the Buffy TV series is another. The new Doctor Who series has some creepy/horrifying elements, and even entire episodes: "Blink", "The Girl in the Fireplace", "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit", and "Human Nature/The Family of Blood", among others, spring to mind.

The key, I think, is to keep the threat credible, even though characters are wisecracking ... and perhaps the situation is absurd. Angelus can say (darkly) humorous things but he's still a monster; statues, clockwork androids, and a cursed child crying for its "mummy" are absurd, but they can still kill you.

Drohem

01-31-2008, 10:20 AM

I'm a fan of having horror and comedy in the same story, but keeping the two separate. Horror is still horrifying, but characters have moments of comedy (sometimes dark comedy) amidst the horror.

Yes, that's exactly how I see it as well.

rabkala

01-31-2008, 08:30 PM

The Doctor Who reference is spot on. The Aliens movie also rather well done.

I am less of a fan of things like Tremors, Critters, and Eight legged Freaks.

I think going the complete spoof route might be fun with the right group though.

Mulsiphix

02-01-2008, 12:45 AM

I remember thinking very fondly of Gremlins I was growing up. I rented it and watched it recently and it was horrible. Just horrible :(

hehehe....Pvt. Hudson has to be one of my most favorite Red Shirts in movie history, LOL.

Mulsiphix

02-01-2008, 10:35 AM

I couldn't agree more. I've never been the type to rewatch a movie time after time, but I've seen Aliens over 50 times. I've seen every released version of it including special editions and Laserdisc. I can pull more one liners from than then the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy :D

Mulsiphix

02-04-2008, 01:26 AM

Anybody else have any recommendations for horror movies that contain comedy "done right"? Any other thoughts, pro - con - neutral, on whether comedy in horror is a good thing or not? Surely this thread cannot have ended before stretching to at least a second page :eek:. Please share more of your thoughts.

boulet

02-11-2008, 06:24 PM

On top of my head : Shaun of the Dead, Fido, Braindead, Bad Taste. I personally don't care for zombie movies, but zombie comedies yeah ! any day :)

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 08:27 PM

Shaun of the Dead was fantastic. So was the last 30 minutes of Hot Fuzz.

Drohem

02-11-2008, 09:37 PM

I still need to see Hot Fuzz. It's on my Netflix list :)

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 10:06 PM

It is worth picking up ;)

rabkala

02-12-2008, 08:57 PM

I just saw One Missed Call. It was laughable, but not what we're looking for...

Mulsiphix

02-12-2008, 09:00 PM

Anybody seen Andre The Butcher? It stars Ron Jeremey and has some of the most "original" script and sex scenes I've ever seen. I rented it from blockbuster. It isn't an adult film. It is quite R ;)

Jonathan Kwiat

03-02-2008, 01:06 PM

How much comedy do you like in your horror games? When does it ruin the mood? Do you enjoy decidedly tongue-in-cheek twist like Horror Rules by Crucifiction Games?

This is not a dead on reply to your question but I felt...well I'd be honest. Horror movies used to give me nightmares when I was a kid. Then I started watching the teenage movies filled with sex, violence, and camp and that wasn't funny at all.

I watched the Original Re-Animator while eating a TV dinner and it was in one ear and out the other.

I need comedy when we start-roleplaying really serious things but the comedy is usually provided by the people I am playing with. That's why I would not show up for a "horror" game and not know anybody there. People can get really gruesome and think they are being really funny.

Well, hope that answers your question.

Be Well,

Jonathan

Bluesman

09-09-2008, 08:18 PM

There is something to be said about a school bus you think is full of kids, but in all reality; midgets ..., with kniffs.

MikeS

09-12-2008, 02:58 PM

I am less of a fan of things like Tremors, Critters, and Eight legged Freaks.

I've always set those movies aside from Horror. Those are Monster movies, not Horror. There's a different amount of humor needed for both.

One rule I've heard from an interview with someone in the horror biz, and I can't recall who he was, was that for every three instances of tension you need a laugh. If you don't get them to laugh at your jokes then they'll laugh at your horror.

--Was this from Stephen Kings' Dance Macabre? I don't know, maybe.--

Monster movies have always seemed to me to require more humor because the premise is so much more preposterous. A subterreanian slug is eating up the townspeople? Cute little furry aliens are eating up townspeople? So the more you laugh at the bumbling handymen or the quirky kids, the less you laugh at the slug or the 'critters'.

Webhead

09-12-2008, 03:47 PM

The first Tremors movie was a very excellently done combination of "horror" and "chuckles". It wasn't truly "comedy" but like any good "monster massacre" film, it had some light-heartedness to keep the audience from just wallowing in depression.

Any of the Tremors films after the first...meh. The second one was good for a couple laughs thanks to the return of the "Burt" character, but the rest was pretty much a wash. It was all downhill after Kevin Bacon.

I'm of a similar opinion with regard to the Men In Black films. The first was an excellent sci-fi action with a few laughs, but the undercurrent of the film was that it was internally serious. The second film was definately much more of "goofball sci-fi" and for that, it wasn't quite as effectual.

rabkala

09-13-2008, 12:45 AM

This maybe a little off, but there was a video game For SNES that was great. You got weapons like silverware for lycanthropes, Popsicles for blobs, weedwhackers for plant creatures, etc. It was very much a parody of horror, but great fun. It was 'Zombies ate the neighbors' or something like that....

Webhead

09-13-2008, 01:08 AM

This maybe a little off, but there was a video game For SNES that was great. You got weapons like silverware for lycanthropes, Popsicles for blobs, weedwhackers for plant creatures, etc. It was very much a parody of horror, but great fun. It was 'Zombies ate the neighbors' or something like that....

Yes, Zombies Ate My Neighbors! Awesome game. I still have my SNES and I still have that game. I never did beat it. I got to some level in the middle to upper 50's but couldn't get beyond that. My brother and I used to team up for hours on that game!

Bluesman

09-15-2008, 03:15 AM

I love just surprising the group with Comedy or horror Diametrically; you know, "robot chicken m. night shyamalan style." Zombies Ate My Neighbors is great I've only reach the pyramid, I think its made by Rare.

Webhead

09-15-2008, 10:14 AM

...Zombies Ate My Neighbors is great I've only reach the pyramid, I think its made by Rare.

It was actually produced by Lucasarts (which explains its zany sense of humor) and was published by Konami.

There was actually a sequel made called Ghoul Patrol, but I never saw it or played it.

kipling

09-16-2008, 10:17 AM

I think the three-to-one ratio idea is spot on. The tension has to go somewhere so you can hit them with surprises.

In general, my players can't avoid making fun of something in out-of-character comments, but they can also be surprisingly serious, so it works.